new to chillers

[dumnut]

Depending on how you look at it, a Solid State Starter is reduced voltage starter (but not really).

I wonder why you say “but not really”?

If the electronic switch (gate) is triggered after the cycle peak then it would defiantly seem to be a reduced voltage starter. Even if the switch is triggered before the cycle peak, such that the peak voltage is included in the cycle, the nominal voltage as read by a volt-meter is still going to be reduced.

I’ve even been toying with the idea of using a solid state starter to send the very tail end of the power cycle to the motor windings of a small hermetic compressor, as a way to eliminate the crank case heater. The windings themselves would become the heater and with the voltage turned low enough the motor itself wouldn’t budge.

Other than that I agree with your assessment.

[jayguy]

I wonder why you say “but not really”? ...

like i said, it depends on how you look at it.

during the voltage wave cycle, as the motor is energized, it does recieve a lower than normal voltage signal during the first half of the ramp up...however, about half way in the start up cycle, it recieves the full voltage signal. the SSS just cuts off the voltage wave form at different points in the wave as the chiller comes up to speed. you could say that this was a form of reduced voltage, but i believe that it is a full voltage starter with a wave form modification versus actually reducing the voltage (and giving ith the full wave form) to the motor....this one is a little tricky.

my main point to all of my arguing was that the unit (motor, starter or motor and starter) recieves full voltage but the unit changes resistance/reactance to gain a lower amperage inrush. while some were saying that it was all semantics, there really are starters out there that reduce the voltage that the motor recieves (without changing the motors characteristics) to achieve the lower inrush.

[dumnut]

like i said, it depends on how you look at it.

during the voltage wave cycle, as the motor is energized, it does recieve a lower than normal voltage signal during the first half of the ramp up...however, about half way in the start up cycle, it recieves the full voltage signal. the SSS just cuts off the voltage wave form at different points in the wave as the chiller comes up to speed. you could say that this was a form of reduced voltage, but i believe that it is a full voltage starter with a wave form modification versus actually reducing the voltage (and giving ith the full wave form) to the motor....this one is a little tricky.

Ah, now I see where you are coming from.

my main point to all of my arguing was that the unit (motor, starter or motor and starter) recieves full voltage but the unit changes resistance/reactance to gain a lower amperage inrush. while some were saying that it was all semantics, there really are starters out there that reduce the voltage that the motor recieves (without changing the motors characteristics) to achieve the lower inrush.

And I support your efforts to correct that confusion. Some of those posts (at least one) could easily be misinterpreted to give the impression that the delta configuration is far more efficient that the wye configuration, which is simply not true. I think you also touched on that confusion. We owe you a debt of gratitude for your efforts.